We are happy to announce that sixteen projects were awarded funding in Round 2 of EF’s grant giving programme. Congratulations to those who received funding. Look out for photos of these projects in the projects section over the coming months. Below is the list of projects that were funded:
Oasis Foundation
Middlesbrough Urban Eco Village (Chris Taylor)
MUEV is designed to bring sustainable urban living to one of the most multiply-deprived communities in Britain. The intention is to create a living example of community-led social and environmental transformation. Working with a group of committed local activists they want to create an ecosystem of change based around three transformational themes: Community Cohesion, Ecological Regeneration and Whole Person (Sacred) Activism. This will be combined with a network of volunteer Community Connectors to build bridges across this divided community, and to develop a grounded approach to their activism, called Whole Person Activism.
Beneficiaries: community of Gresham, Middlesbrough and wider communities who can see this example and take it forward elsewhere.
A course in integrated education
(Jules Evans)
Inspired by the work of Aldous Huxley, this project will develop, teach and assess a 4-part course in integrated education. The sessions will be captured on video and turned into an online course, and 4 videos of key ideas for YouTube. The course will teach people ideas and practices for resilience, flourishing and interconnectedness from ancient wisdom traditions and modern psychology. It will draw on research over the last decade, on ancient Greek philosophy and its influence on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Buddhism and its influence on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, self-transcendent experiences, and research on Aldous Huxley.
Beneficiaries: two small groups of 15 people, (London Philosophy Club, a mental health charity) and those who engage with the online courses and YouTube content.
St. Ethelburgas
Radical Resilience (Clare Martin)
Active spirituality for an unravelling world is a response to the need to prepare for potential social and ecological disintegration. At a time when humanity’s future is uncertain, a new kind of resilience is needed, one firmly rooted in spiritual principles. The project will create a series of events, training courses, workshops and online content that offer a curriculum for resilience building. The Radical Resilience concept includes strengthening individuals psychologically and spiritually, as well as building communities that are more cohesive and better able to adapt in times of change.
Beneficiaries: action learning set of ~20 participants and their wider communities, participants at 4 evening events (4×80) and 2 training workshops (2×25) as well as the applicant’s own team (28 people).
Active Hope London
(Sophie Howarth)
AHL will work with people across London to offer 4 day-long workshops which empower participants to make their contribution to a life sustaining society, and to identify and upskill local community leaders to run workshops in their communities. The workshop model is based on a body of facilitation tools called ‘The Work That Reconnects’ developed by ecological activist, Joanna Macy. This work helps people uncover and experience their innate connections with each other and with the systemic, self-healing powers of the web of life, so that they may be enlivened and motivated to play their part in creating a sustainable civilization.
Beneficiaries: attendees at the workshops (estimated 112), 8-12 community leaders and their communities
Meanwhile Gardens
Meanwhile Gardens Young Environmentalists (Chandrika Dalpat)
The project will offer fortnightly classes of 1.5 hours (over a year) to a group of 12 children (aged 8-10) from 2 local schools to learn about the impact of climate change as well as ways to protect the planet and also about trees, plants, insects and care for the natural environment. The children will learn through science, art, writing, gardening skills, observation-recording and interpersonal skills which will follow the cycle of the seasons through the year. It will be a practically based course, sharing, drawing and creative writing with time to explore the Gardens during each session.
Beneficiaries: 24 children from 2 local schools.
Tranquillity House
All One – Community conversations and Arts/Peer Support to address suicide crisis (Lesley Miller)
This project will create opportunities/space for people to come together through the creative arts to reduce isolation, build connections and engage in conversations which explore the issue of suicide and the conditions in our communities which exacerbate it, and explore community-based solutions.
Beneficiaries: 90 people in Music & Conversation Cafés in North East Glasgow, 10 young people (mainly men aged 14-17) in the Creative Arts & Conversation programme in Aberlour who are not attending school, have poor mental health, suicidal thoughts, are misusing alcohol and/or drugs and engaging in low level offending, 18 people (6 per group) in the Space to Move sessions for people aged 16+ who are isolated, lonely and may be having thoughts of suicide, and at least 50 people in the Dance for Life city-wide event.
Drumming Up Connection
(Tobias Sturmer)
This pilot project aims to offer young, male refugees and asylum-seekers (RAS) opportunities for learning drumming, as a way of fostering creativity, intercultural learning and expression, connection to others and to Oxford, as well as team building skills. It also aims to create more community cohesion between RAS and the local community. Male RAS are one of the most marginalised groups in Oxford and the hardest to engage. The project comprises 2×10 week (1.5hrs) sessions, performances with the later set of sessions integrating and engaging with the local music community.
Beneficiaries: 30 refugees and asylum seekers/vulnerable migrants from Oxford, aged between 16-18 or young men aged 18-30, the majority come from Eritrea, Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Vietnam and Afghanistan. A further 10 beneficiaries will be local drumming students involved in the second workshop programme.
Arwen Sanctuary
Growing and learning with and for nature (Janie Rosenwald)
This project aims to encourage the enrichment, education and regeneration of people and nature, working and living together in a sanctuary. This will be achieved by the further development and care of a fledgling forest garden and other edible and flowering landscapes; care and development of the natural sanctuary by nurturing rich and varied habitats; attracting volunteers to assist with the work and to learn about it; providing opportunities for volunteers and visitors to live a simple, healing, enriching and sustainable life close to nature on sacred energetically potent land.
Beneficiaries: 20 residential volunteers for 1 to 4 weeks, 20 local volunteers for a day or more, 10+ other visitors.
ThoughtBoxEducation
(Rachel Musson)
The ThoughtBox Learning Journey is the next stage in the project’s existing schools’ programme and includes 6 new curriculum topics for Primary and Secondary schools, developing key life skills for social-emotional learning through discussion-based activities and nurturing children’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural connections. Talks and workshops act as further enrichment for global-thinking topics, whilst the teacher training programmes help schools to embed positive holistic practice when delivering the curriculum and embedding wider support provisions to encourage whole-school engagement.
Beneficiaries: many children and up to 60 schools.
Coaching for Women
(Alison Manning)
This project uses a group coaching approach, supporting women to develop peer-to-peer support, gaining the skills and confidence to find creative ways to address their personal issues and goals. It will comprise: 10 x 6-hour workshops including active listening, confidence building, boundary and goal setting, raising self-awareness and meditation; 4 six-week courses made up of individual coaching sessions and a weekly group session to build a sense of confidence and connectedness; an individual follow-up session for all participants; and 2 weekend intensives, to go deeper into the experience of self-discovery.
Beneficiaries: ~200 individuals could be reached through the workshops and courses, with up to 48 receiving further coaching through follow up appointments or weekend intensives.
Yes to Life
(Sue De Cesare)
This organisation aims to help people with cancer through the maze of information which can be found on the internet, so that they can choose what is right for them. This project aims to extend the applicant’s educational programme to deliver 13 events across the UK, as well as provide 2 training days for helpline volunteers. The programme will consist of conferences, evening talks and workshops.
Beneficiaries: those with cancer; their families and carers and the organisation’s volunteers.
Sky School
Transformational Learning for Refugee Youth in Athens (Mia Eskelund Pedersen)
This project provides transformational learning to young refugees in Athens who are not in education. The learning aims are to develop young peoples’ agency, enable a shift in mindset and develop their ability to make positive change in their communities. This project will run four courses for young refugees, themed around peace-building, non-violence, language and narrative, and how to make their voices heard through participation in their new communities.
Beneficiaries: support for 100 young refugees in Athens, Greece.
Mindfulness Network for People of all Colours
(William Fley)
MNPC, a collaboration of accredited therapists and mindfulness teacher, provides insight meditation and related practices for all communities, but in particular for black and ethnic minorities in London. They help people suffering from anxiety, stress and depression through on-line sessions, mindfulness retreats and workshops, in a way which is more accessible for hard-to-reach elements of the population, helping to create interconnectedness between individuals and communities.
Beneficiaries: black and ethnic minority community in London, general public, and mental health practitioners in London and the south coast.
Equally Ours
Common Ground (Ali Harris)
Through a series of facilitated dialogues, this project will bring together women’s and LGBT groups in a mutually respective space. It will address the distrust and fear generated in response to the Government’s reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), helping to create bridges across current divisions, identify common ground, and find ways of working together to tackle all forms of inequality.
Beneficiaries: 8 to 10 LGBT and women’s organisations throughout the UK, plus 80 member organisations affiliated to ‘Equally Ours’.
Giraffe Social Enterprises
Growing skills for community resilience in troubled times (Katherine Shaw)
In the increasing strain of these turbulent times (climate change, Brexit, etc), this project engages local community workers in participatory learning of restorative nonviolent systems and compassionate action to help foster the courage, creativity and resilience needed right now at community level.
Beneficiaries: training events in West Wales for 24 community leaders, who will work in turn with 500 community members across the UK.
Healing Solidarity
(Mary Ann Walsingham Clements)
The project is to build an online space to re-imagine international development into a more equitable movement for global solidarity: one that moves away from a top-down model to a more reflective and equitable one, and that provides a forum for peer-support amongst practitioners. Themes will include: Anti-Racism, Embodied Practice, Collective Care, Equitable Funding and Re-imagining Solidarity.
Beneficiaries: People working in, or interested in the field of International Development, 50% to be UK based.
